Bayshore Elementary students gather to honor veterans
Hundreds of children at Bayshore Elementary School gathered around the flagpole on a cloudy Tuesday morning, wearing red, white and blue shirts while dodging the raindrops.
It’s something these students have done for years. But this one was a little different as they welcomed an honored guest, a man who fought for his country before any of Bayshore’s teachers were born.
Albert Marks, an Army veteran who fought in Okinawa during World War II, was among three special guests during the school’s annual Veteran’s Day event to honor those who made the sacrifice to help make us safe.
Marks was overcome with emotion as he stood before the children, and was comforted by fellow veterans Verne Belt, who was in the Navy from 1959-63, and Anthony Marchese an Army veteran from 1972-82, who serves as a volunteer at Bayshore.
The event got going late because of a heavy shower, but the rain stopped long enough for the short ceremony, which included a formal flag-raising, the Pledge of Allegiance and “Taps” before the kids came in to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” and “America the Beautiful.”
“We say the pledge every day, but it’s different when we go out as an entire school family and say the pledge together,” Harrell said. “Everybody in the cafeteria, every assistant, all the teachers were out by that flagpole.”
Lynn Harrell, Bayshore Elementary principal, has held this event every year she has been at the school and said having a man like Marks as a guest was very special.
“There are very few first-person accounts of what it was like to serve in World War II, so we were very excited to have him,” Harrell said.
She said it’s important to teach children to show respect for the service of the military.
“The teachers always work with the students in the classroom, they talk to them about the purpose of it,” Harrell said, whose father served in the military. “We are trying to teach our children to be good citizens and to show kindness and gratitude to others, and this one of the ways we do that.”
Students expressed their patriotism in different ways. Some made poppies that were placed in the area around the flagpole while the younger students wore paper Uncle Sam hats. Older students wrote poems or read about veterans.
What students didn’t hear about, Harrell said, were specific accounts of battles or war.
“We have small children and there are some details they can’t handle. But today, the students will just meet Mr. Marks and ask questions,” Harrell said. “We try to focus Veterans Day on service because it’s something they can understand.”
While some schools bring in veteran’s groups to speak to the children, Bayshore keeps it in the family by having students or teachers bring in friends or family who are veterans.
Marks, a grandfather of one of the teachers, sat with the kindergartners after the event and ate patriotic donuts. Marchese tries to instill patriotism in the children every day by encouraging them to do their best.
“I try to instill a good work ethic in them. I don’t bring up military matters to them because they’re too young to understand. With my discipline from being in the military, I try to instill good study habits,” Marchese said, who is seven months away from a bachelor’s degree in human services at Rasmussen College.